Energy Efficiency

Energy efficient computing is another important goal to achieve during the development of the ENSIMS products. There are many factors that may have an impact on energy consumption. The main steps we have taken are stripping out unnecessary components, using only the parts with the best performance-to-consumption ratio for the essential components, and using the high efficiency power supply units. The results are highly efficient computers without any sacrifice to the performance.

We have tested energy consumption of the X3200 and the K870 machines under different workloads. The table below summarises the results. The X3200 (X3290 as tested) under full load (i.e. executing with 32 parallel threads) represents the most energy efficient solution. It uses about 27% less electricity per job compared to the K870. It is necessary to point out that these results only apply to the benchmark tests we have carried out in the lab. Actual in-use energy consumption may vary depending on the hardware/software configuration and the use pattern.

Table 1 Power rating and energy consumption

Idle

1 Thread

8 Threads

16 Threads

24 Threads

32 Threads

X3290

Power rating

90 watts

154 watts

266 watts

378 watts

392 watts

406 watts

Consumption per job

-

63.1 Wh

15.2 Wh

12.0 Wh

10.6 Wh

10.1 Wh

Throughput per kWh

-

15.9 jobs

65.8 jobs

83.1 jobs

94.6 jobs

99.3 jobs

K870

Power rating

45 watts

80 watts

165 watts

-

-

-

Consumption per job

-

23.7 Wh

13.9 Wh

-

-

-

Throughput per kWh

-

33.7 jobs

72.1 jobs

-

-

-

Another benefit of being energy efficient is that the computers can operate more quietly in an office environment. The K870 is built using the quietest components on the market, to achieve near silient operation under low to moderate workload. It is perfect for use as normal desktop PC.